Cashmere is one of the most used luxury winter fabrics in the world. There are many different qualities, types, and specifications of cashmere wool yarn. It can drastically change the quality and uses. There are very few fabrics that have as many variations in types and qualities. The qualities can range from affordable standard to ultra-expensive luxury products. 

But both can be referred to as cashmere. How does this level of difference happen? How do different types of yarn change the end result? Everyone naturally becomes a fan of the physical appearance of cashmere. But when we zoom in and look at the details, it gets more interesting and wonderful.

Hi, We are Team Muslin Dhaka. Our brand name comes from South-East Asian traditional luxury Dhaka Muslin, which is one of the most luxurious fabrics. We primarily work with luxury fabrics around the world. In our team, we have fabric experts, fashion designers, and fiber analysts. We work together to present amazing articles for luxury fashion lovers around the world. We worked a lot with cashmere fabric in recent years. We will provide unique, outstanding value to this topic.

Glory of cashmere

Cashmere is certainly a one-of-a-kind textile for clothing. The smoothness it provides is unreal. It comes with a level of comfort that the word comfort is not enough for. There are many other great fibers and wools, but there is nothing like it.

Cashmere fiber is not new, though. Humans have been using it for thousands of years. The cashmere we use today is the result of artificial selection and breeding, which happened at the hands of humans. We climbed really high to dig into the history of cashmere fabrics. 

Here, let’s stick to the cashmere wool yarns and fibers first.

Why and who needs the information?

If you are looking to produce cashmere clothes and appliances, this information can be vital for you. If you do not know your materials well, you have no control over the quality of your production. This also applies to fiber artists who make DIY accessories with wool.

It can also be important for passionate cashmere lovers. If you know the micro characteristics of cashmere fibers and yarn used in a product, you will understand what to expect from that. However, all you learn here can be just for the sake of fun and satisfying your curiosity about cashmere wool yarn. 

How are cashmere wool yarns made?

There are some debates about harvesting cashmere yarn. But when done correctly, harvesting cashmere wool from the goats is entirely ethical and suitable for the goats. Some breeds of goats produce better quality cashmere wool, but there are no specific breeds. 

The procedure starts at the beginning of spring when the goats no longer need the wool for insulation. They naturally shade the wool, but the harvesting process must start before the shading. The goats are sheared gently, one by one, with a specialized shearing machine. Then the wools are sorted. There are two types of wool: cashmere goats produce an Overcoat and an Undercoat. The overcoat protects the goats from the weather and the undercoat keeps them warm. Only the undercoat is used for making cashmere yarn.

After sorting, the cashmere fibers are cleaned and disinfected. Once they are dried, another step of sorting takes place. In this stage, different qualities and lengths are sorted. 

Once the fibers are prepared, yarns are made with the fiber. There are different types of yarns that we will discuss in the following part. 

Why is baby cashmere better than regular cashmere?

You may have seen a cashmere sweater that costs 400$ and another similar sweater that costs 1800$. The sweaters that are expensive and luxurious are made with baby cashmere, generally speaking. Baby cashmere is one of the most precious animal fibers. Baby cashmere is not only of royal and unreal quality, but its production is also 10 times harder than regular cashmere fibers.

As the name suggests, baby cashmere is produced with baby goats’ undercoats. Baby cashmere goats produce the finest wool. But from each baby goat, only 50-80 grams of wool is produced. For baby cashmere wool, a lot of baby goats need to be nurtured. One scarf with this expensive wool requires wool from 4 cashmere baby goats.  

Microscopic structures of cashmere fiber

When you rub your skin with a quality cashmere fabric, you will experience a type of smoothness that is not quite relatable to anything. You may wonder why that happens. We have the proper answer.

To unwrap the mystery of cashmere’s ultra-smoothness, we have to look at the microscopic image of cashmere fiber. You see, Most objects in our world are quite uneven on a microscopic level. A smooth table or tiles will look something like a moon landscape under a microscope. But cashmere is different. Every cashmere fiber is unusually even, and there are very few uneven spots. No other fibers in the world have this level of fineness and smooth appearance.

Specifications of cashmere Yarn & fiber

If you are researching cashmere yarn and fabric, you will notice different specifications. Let’s figure out what they are and what they mean.

Fitness 

Fitness is the professional term for the thickness of individual strands. For cashmere and similar animal fibers, fitness is expressed in microns. One micron is one-millionth of a meter. Regular cashmere fiber is 15 to 19 microns, while baby cashmere is around 13.5 microns. If you are wondering what 13.5 microns is, here is a comparison: average human hair is about 100 microns.

Fiber length

It indicates the length of an individual fiber. Fiber length is also an important metric of the quality of cashmere. The range of cashmere fiber length falls between 25 mm to 200 mm. 

A fabric or yarn made with longer fibers is more durable and robust. However, you may not find the fiber length in the cashmere product manual. But if you are buying yarn, you can get fiber length information from the manufacturer.

Terms

In the manual of cashmere products or thread, you may see numbers like 2/26 nm, 3/48 nm, and so on. It may look not very clear, but it simply means two things. 

Cashmere yarn is produced by twisting the cashmere fibers. But just twisted cashmere yarn is very fragile and not suitable for fabric making. When multiple strands of oppositely spun cashmere yarn are piled together, the yarn becomes strong and suitable for knitting or weaving. This pile of yarn is called a strand. Usually, 2 or 3 strands of cashmere fiber are used to make cashmere yarn.

The second number is called yarn count, and it is easier to understand. It refers to the length of one gram of cashmere yarn. Thicker and heavier cashmere yarn will have a smaller yarn count, while lighter yarn will have a larger yarn count.

So, if a specification says 2/26 nm, that means the yarn is made of two strands, and one gram of the yarn is 26 meters long. 

Strength

The strength of cashmere fiber means its ability to withstand pulls and stretches. It is generally expressed with tensile strength. It can be measured with numbers, but in everyday scenarios, you will see low, mid, or high tensile strength more often. The tensile strength of cashmere natural fibers depends more on the genetic and living conditions of cashmere goats.

Diameter

The diameter of the cashmere indicates its thickness and yarn weight. It is expressed with denier or tex. Fiber with a low diameter makes a smooth and lightweight fabric.

Length

The yarn length is simply a unit of length. It is with yards or meters. To make a cashmere scarf, around 150 yards of cashmere yarn is required. Whereas a sweater or cashmere garment may take 300 or more. It also depends on the thickness of the yarn.

Gauge

Gauge is related to cashmere knitwear. It simply means the number of stitches per square inch. Larger gauge cashmere requires thinner cashmere yarn and vice versa.

Type of Cashmere Wool

Cashmere wool can be divided by its quality. There are some other subtypes, like pashmina wool. Let’s learn about them.

There are five types of cashmere wool :

• Pashmina
• Grade C Cashmere
• Grade B Cashmere
• Grade A cashmere
• Baby Cashmere

Pashmina wool

It’s similar to cashmere wool but comes from a different breed of goats. Pashmina was known as a royal wool in other parts of Asia.

Grade C Cashmere

Grade C cashmere is the cheapest. Due to the huge demand for cashmere fabric, grade C has become quite common in the past few years. Grade C cashmere has a similar experience to cashmere, but it is thicker and less soft. 

Grade B Cashmere

Grade B cashmere is also affordable. It’s soft but not close to the best ones. Most of the cashmere you find in the market is probably grade B.

Grade A Cashmere

High-quality and perfectly sorted cashmere is known as A-grade cashmere. They also have a higher fiber length. That results in more durable yet soft, cozy cashmere fabric. Most grade-A cashmere is expensive.

Baby Cashmere

Baby cashmere is the highest quality of cashmere. It’s the finest and softest. Luxury garments are made with baby cashmere.

Recycled cashmere yarn: A step towards sustainability

Cashmere has always been the fabric for the royals. But around 2010, the demand for cashmere rose wildly. When a royal product gains massive popularity, the result does not end well. For this high demand, a lot of cheap, unethical, and unsustainable cashmere comes into the market. But those are now in some form of control due to regulations. Even today, the amount of cashmere that can be produced ethically is not enough to meet the demand. Recycled cashmere comes as an excellent solution to that.

Cashmere is naturally very durable. The cashmere sweaters can get damaged, but the fibers stay intact most of the time. After processing old cashmere fabrics and respinning the yarn, the end product is almost like non-recycled products. A considerable amount of cashmere produced today is recycled. But we need more recycled cashmere buyers to make the system more sustainable.

Where to buy cashmere wool yarn?

You can get cashmere wool yarn in your nearby yarn and knitting shop. There are also some great brands for cashmere yarn. Here are some of the recommendations from our yarn expert.

• TEHETE
• Glsimo
• YARNITALY
• SunYarnStudio

Frequently Asked Questions

What is 100% cashmere yarn?

100% cashmere yarn is made only with cashmere fiber without any blending. It’s also called pure cashmere yarn.

Does cashmere yarn break easily?

Cashmere wool yarns are delicate and break easily. 2-ply yarns are more prone to breakage. But becomes durable when fabric is made with them.

Warping Up

Cashmere wool yarn can come in a lot of varieties. If you have the right knowledge, you will realize what to expect from specific cashmere wool yarn. We explained all the specifications you may need to face while working with cashmere wool yarn. you can read best cashmere brands for further research.

Dont hesitate to buy the best luxury cashmere fiber from Muslin dhaka, etsy, Amazon or your desired stores.